Expanding metal bracelet

ABSTRACT

An expandable metal metal bracelet having two staggered layers of links includes resilient connecting members, or bails, joining adjacent links each having two limbs which are inserted into a link and a protrusion locked into the body portion of a link, the protrusion and the two limbs lying normally in a common plane but being relatively angularly twisted out of alignment when the links are spread apart.

1 wmsm United States Patent Guy lacques Rubinelli References Cited (72] Inventor S m m mm T m m m mm m m T W mnmm A ""0 .nunu y nuu b flauu Em m H Lm Tmwnucn C Ao nm W h mfir SP Snvi mh he D 3 8 In BGMWZ e E "M91230 N56667 r 99999 H HHHHHn 2. 82 mm 11] a x 59889 M 8830 l Um 88396 at 0699 mb nn 23333 PA 8 c n m F. .m m r 8 ms m 9 M S 6la 6 m 97 9 F 19 1 ,0 91 v. 0 n 9 9 2 2 m hwna .ms blb ba 0E 8 er4 ASFJFAFFI a 06 N mm w In no.0 H Pwmw 0 na n AFPA P UM. UMHH 2247 333 iiil. .lil.

Attorney-Christen & Sabol [54] EXPANDING I j BRACELET ABSTRACT: An expandable metal metal bracelet having two 3 c'aimsmnrawmg staggered layers of links includes resilient connecting mem bers, or bails. joining adjacent links each having two limbs which are inserted into a link and a protrusion locked into the body portion of a link, the protrusion and the two limbs lying normally in a common plane but being relatively angularly twisted out of alignment when the links are spread apart.

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PATENTED JUL 6 ISYI SHEET 1 [1F 2 FiG.1

FIG.3

EXPANDING METAL BRACELET The present invention relates to improvements to expanding each link in a row being connected to two adjacent links in the other row, by means of bails 'or connecting members, said bracelet being in addition provided with means for returning said bails to their position of rest corresponding to the bracelet retracted state.

in most of the known bracelets, the resilient means adapted to cause the connecting members or bails to return are constituted by springs of various shapes; in particular, it is known to use springs constituted by blades or leaves inserted into the bails and crushed by the latter as they undergo an angular movement under the influence of a traction exerted upon the links, the bail being biassed to its position of rest in view of the spring elastic strain.

The present invention provides a specially simple and efficient approachto the resilient return of the connecting members or bails.

According to a first feature, a bracelet according to the present invention comprises a flat or substantially flat connecting member or bail formed of two limbs longitudinally arranged in the direction of the links axes, each of said limbs being inserted into one of the two superimposed adjacent links connected by said bail, the latter being provided with protru sions or lugs located in the substantially vertical plane of said bail when at their positions of rest, said protrusions or lugs being locked to the body portion of one of said links and being adapted to spread apart due to the resilient direction of the bail plane, whenever said bail is given an angular movement resulting from the links being spread apart.

At their positions of rest,'the bail and the return lug or lugs are located in the same plane; the bail connects two superimposed links, one of its longitudinal limbs being engaged into the upper link, whereas its other limb is engaged into the lower limb, said two limbs being thus locked to each other. When the links are spread apart, the bail undergoes an angular movement, whereas the return lug, which is locked to one of the links, resists said movement, and the bail and the return lug, due to their mutual distortion are caused to leave their common plane corresponding to their positions of rest. The mutual resilient distortion of the return lug and of the remaining portion of the bail gives rise to a torque by means of which said lug and said bail are biassed toward their initial common plane, thus causing the bracelet to retract.

According to a first embodiment, the connecting member or bail is wide open at the center of the lower'longitudinal limb penetrating into the lower link, and said bail comprises a return lug starting from the center of the upper longitudinal limb and directed downwardly until it reaches a level corresponding to that of the open lower limb of the bail, or slightly lower.

At the position of rest, said return lug is locked against the outer body portion of the lower limb, under the action of a slight tension which draws it slightly out of the plane of the bail, whereas the lower longitudinal bail limb penetrates into the hollow portion of the link and is thus locked thereby.

According to another embodiment, the bail is open at its upper longitudinal'limb which penetrates into the upper link, and each of the extremities of the bail open limb is extended by means of return lugs, which are directed toward the inner portion of the bail and are adapted to be locked to the bottom portion of the upper link.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, illustrating two forms of embodiments of the expanding bracelet.

FIG. 1 is a cross section of a portion of a bracelet according I to the invention;

HO. 2 is a cross section along line llll of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a lower link, one of the connecting members or bails being at rest and the other being open;

F l6. 4 is a cross section of a portion. of another embodiment of the bracelet according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross section along line VV of FIG. 41, and,

FIG. 6 is a plan view ofa lower link, one of the bails being at rest and the other open.

In known manner, the bracelet shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 comprises two layers, or rows, of links transversely arranged with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bracelet; it is composed of upper links 1, 1', 1" and lower links 2, 2, 2 the links of one layer being staggered with respect to those of the other layer.

The various links are connected by twos, by means of connecting members or bails 3, 3', 3" Each of said bails comprises an upper longitudinal limb 4 inserted into the upper link 1, and connected by means of vertical members 5 and 5' to the symmetrical lower half-limbs 6 and 6' which penetrate into the lower link 2; in addition, bail 3, in its middle portion, comprises aresilient return lug 7, starting from the middle portion of the bail upper limb 4.

At rest, return limb 7 is located in a plane which is very near of that of lower half-limbs 6 and 6'; whereas said half-limbs are locked inside link 2, return lug 7, which is located outside link 2 in a recess 8 of the vertical outer wall of the link, abuts against a lower shoulder 9 starting from the bottom of link 2; accordingly, the bail half-limbs 6 and 6' and the return lugs 7 are slightly distorted with respect to their common plane and are thus resiliently locked to link 2, which biases the upper longitudinal limb 4 of the bail toward the wall of upper link 1.

Whenever a traction is exerted upon the chain of links, thus tending to mutually spread them apart, half-limbs 6 and 6' of the bail are driven by lower link 2, whereas return lug 7, located outside link 2, slides along shoulder 9 and is thus 'resiliently withdrawn from the plane of bail 3; said lug is biassed toward its initial position, in the vicinity of half-limbs 6 and 6', and accordingly causes the bails and the links to return to a retracted position.

In the embodiment in FIGS. 3 to 6, the upper links 10, 10 10" are lined with decorating shells 11, 11, 11"; said links are connected to the lower links 12, 12',12"... by means of bails 13, 13', 13" Bail 13 comprises a lower transverse limb inserted into lower link 12 and connected, by means of vertical members 14, 14, to the two upper half-limbs 15, 15 inserted into the upper link.

The adjacent extremities of the upper half-limbs are extended by return lugs 16, 16' turned forward the inner portion of the bail and adapted to be located in a recess 17 of the lower bottom of upper link 10. Moreover, the bail upper corners are locked at 18, 18' to a tongue cut into the upper bottom of the upper link 10.

Connecting member or bail 13 is thus locked by means of its upper half-limbs to the upper link, and. at their position of rest the return lugs 16, 16' are inserted within their housing under a slight tension, which slightly withdraws them from the vertical plane of bail 13; when the links are being spread apart, the lower links carry with them the bail lower limb which is trapped by said lower links the bails thus assuming an oblique position, whereas the return lugs, which are locked to the upper links, maintain a substantially vertical position; it results therefrom a dispersion of the lugs and a resilient strain of the upper half-limbs 16 and 16, which biases the links toward their position of rest.

The above description has been given merely by way of example and it is therefore possible to obtain other embodiments without going beyond the scope of the invention; in particular, the positions of the lower and upper links and the corresponding bail position may be reversed.

What I claim is:

1. .An expanding metal bracelet of the type comprising two layers, or rows, of links in staggered relationship, said links being arranged transversely with respect to the axis of said bracelet, each of said links being connected to the two adjacent links in the other row by means of connecting members, or bails, adapted to resiliently return said links, wherein said bails are substantially flat and comprise two limbs each of which is inserted into one of the connected links, said bails comprising return protrusions or lugs which, at their positions of rest are located in the bail plane, said lugs being locked to 1 the body portion of one of said links and being adapted to be resiliently withdrawn from the plane of said bail, whenever the latter is angularly displaced as a consequence of the spreading apart of the links.

2. An expanding metal bracket according to claim l, wherein said bail is widely open at the middle portion of its lower longitudinal limb inserted into a lower link, said bail comprising a resilient return lug starting from the middle portion of the upper limb thereof and directed downwards, said return lug abutting against the outer edge of said lower limb and being resiliently withdrawn from the plane of said bail when the latter is angularly displaced.

3. An expanding metal bracelet according to claim ll, wherein said bail is open in the vicinity of the middle portion of its upper limb inserted into the upper link, the free extremities of the two upper half-limbs of said bail each comprising a resilient return lug locked to the lower bottom of said upper link, said bail abutting by its upper corners, against a tongue starting from the upper bottom of said upper link, said resilient return lugs being thus locked in a vertical position and being adapted to be withdrawn from the bail plane by resilient strain, when said bail is angularly biassed under the effect of a traction exerted upon said links. 

1. An expanding metal bracelet of the type comprising two layers, or rows, of links in staggered relationship, said links being arranged transversely with respect to the axis of said bracelet, each of said links being connected to the two adjacent links in the other row by means of connecting members, or bails, adapted to resiliently return said links, wherein said bails are substantially flat and comprise two limbs each of which is inserted into one of the connected links, said bails comprising return protrusions or lugs which, at their positions of rest are located in the bail plane, said lugs being locked to the body portion of one of said links and being adapted to be resiliently withdrawn from the plane of said bail, whenever the latter is angularly displaced as a consequence of the spreading apart of the links.
 2. An expanding metal bracket according to claim 1, wherein said bail is widely open at the middle portion of its lower longitudinal limb inserted into a lower link, said bail comprising a resilient return lug starting from the middle portion of the upper limb thereof and directed downwards, said return lug abutting against the outer edge of said lower limb and being resiliently withdrawn from the plane of said bail when the latter is angularly displaced.
 3. An expanding metal bracelet according to claim 1, wherein said bail is open in the vicinity of the middle portion of its upper limb inserted into the upper link, the free extremities of the two upper half-limbs of said bail each comprising a resilient return lug locked to the lower bottom of said upper link, said bail abutting by its upper corners, against a tongue starting from the upper bottom of said upper link, said resilient return lugs being thus locked in a vertical position and being adapted to be withdrawn from the bail plane by resilient strain, when said bail is angularly biassed under the effect of a traction exerted upon said links. 